Month: September 2008

Bruce Cockburn is a brilliant acoustic guitarist from Canada, very famous over there and also in some parts of the world. Many of the younger guitar players may not know of him so I’ve decided to post about another youtube video. At times his guitar parts may look simpler than they are but really he is a geat player and like most sensible great players it is not necessary for them to play everything they know i one song, what is important is playing what is needed. Although this youtube has political overtones, the role of this site is not to support or object to any political issues, although I do have strong views I won’t air them on my guitar sites. I have posted about this because of its musical value. It is called “If I had a Rocket Launcher”. Check out his right hand technique.

The Early Seventies was a great period for acoustic music, both commercially and in smaller environments such as small concert halls, cafes and bars. Seals and Crofts were one of my favourite duos, along with Batdorf and Rodney; they had some beautiful albums full of jangly guitars jand vocl harmonies, I particularly like the Unborn Child album, Diamond Girl album, and also I’ll Play for You with the very brilliant song Freaks Fret. I must also mention that they had a very good guitar player and producer working with them over the years called Louie Shelton. Louie Shelton Website

McGowan Guitar

I LOVE BEAUTIFUL GUITARS

I’ve stated a number of times in this guitar blog site that what I’m trying to do is raise the standard of guitar playing by making available resources, inspirational videos of great players, guitar tips, tabs and music notation and whatever else I can to expand the beautiful artform of acoustic guitars. Some weeks back at my other site someone at my other guitar blog site the Guitarplayer directed me to a Guitar Maker in Virginia. I often get people asking me to promote their sites, their products, their music; in most cases I say no because the agenda is often very different to what I’m trying to achieve and I don’t wish to turn my site into a supermarket full of guitar track. So when you are not running a website as a business but are more interested in having a resource to help acoustic guitar players, it’s easy to maintain quality because what I like, I publish and what I don’t I bypass. I’m always happy to see the development of all areas of guitar, so I followed through and checked out some of the instruments by brian at McGowan Guitars and was more than pleasantly surprised . I’ve always loved the idea of experimenting to get the perfect sound out of a guitar. I particularly like the use of a mix of tonewoods on the soundboard e.g. the usage of both Cedar and Spruce to get warmth and clarity. that’s the beauty of the non production line guitars, the guys (and ladies, I’m thinking Linda Manzer) have the ability to experiment with the end goal being beautiful instruments. Brian is currently building three different body styles. – Grand Concert, Grand Auditorium, and Dreadnought . Standard nut width is 1 3/4”. The scale length on all models is 25 11/32”.

Bruce Cockburn has always been an exceptional guitar player with odd twists in his playing and has worked with numerous musicians of different styles. To hear Bruce playing with the Kora master Mamadou Diabate is a treat. The kora is a traditional twenty one harp like stringed African instrument. Mali as the birth place of the great guitar player Ali Farka Toure who played and recorded with Ry Cooder. Canada meets Mali, showing us how music can bring the world together in harmony.
World of Wonders.

NEWS FLASH

Richard Wright one of the founding members of Pink Floyd has passed away. Richard was a keyboard player and although this blog site is dedicated to Acoustic guitar, Richard Wright’s contribution to contemporary music needs to be acknowledged. Thankyou Richard for your contribution to one of the greatest bands of all time.

Pink Floyd Richard Wright

Bruce Cockburn and Rick Emmett are both Canadian guitar players, this youtube video is from 1981. You may be aware of Rick from his work with the band Triumph and his exposure through Gguitar Player magazine. Bruce Cockburn has been an acoustic guitar favourite of mine since the mid seventies, you may know him from his hit song Wondering Where the Lions Are and many years later, When a Tree Falls. Cockburn is one of the most respected acoustic guitar singer songwriters in the world, his technique is superb and at times a little unusual, his picking hand is very developed and he often calls on jazz chords instead of the standard country style of chords, it’s an interesting mix when you put all the pieces together.

This video is 27 years old, so you can image the development that has happened during that period. Rick plays a resonator guitar and Bruce a cutaway. In 1981 one there were not a lot of cutaways around. When I saw a Gurian cutaway in a music shop early the same year I just had to buy it on the spot because of the rarity and the ability gto get up the neck. These days they are everywhere but not always so. Many players take things for granted and do not realise the incredible development that has happened of the last thirty years in luthiery and amplification of acoustic instruments.